Sugary sweet match-three fun

Pastry Paradise is another match-three mobile game based around connecting groups of sugary treats. If you’re a Candy Crush Saga fan this game will get you salivating, if you’re fed up with this type of game then this copycat will leave a sour taste in your mouth.

Match-three with a cherry on top

Pastry Paradise follows the same match-three recipe as Candy Crush and countless other games before it: swap the different shapes (in this case cakes) to make groups of three or more matches. The shapes disappear and you win points. Make enough points before the alloted number of moves run out and you pass to the next level.

It’s a tried and trusted formula and it does work – Pastry Paradise is as addictive as sugary buns – but it scores no prizes for originality. Sure, there are a range of power-ups, and different game modes (boss battles, baking challenges, etc.), but there’s little in Pastry Paradise that we haven’t seen before. Perhaps the only big ‘innovation’ in the gameplay is that pieces can be swapped diagonally as well as up/down/left/right.

A piece of cake

Even if you’ve never played a match-three game before, Pastry Paradise is child’s play. The principles of the game are outlined in friendly tutorial levels, and the first few levels are very forgiving, with a generous helping of moves so you can get a feel for the game.

Of course, as you progress things get tougher, and within a few levels you’ll be begging for more moves in order to finish off a level. But begging will do you no good. You need to pay via in-app purchase for more medals and lives, which will keep you in the game longer. It’s frustrating, I know, but that’s how mobile games make their money these days.

Pour some sugar on me

The overall presentation of Pastry Paradise is excellent. In fact, if it was coated with any more sugar it would need a health warning. The cakes look so good you’ll be licking your screen, the characters are delightfully sweet, and the music and sound effects have a dreamy ring to them.

I only wish the interaction between the characters in Pastry Paradise was a bit more developed. Some of the sequences are mildly humorous, but I felt it lacked personality.

Sweet and sour

It still baffles me how many developers are churning out Candy Crush Saga-inspired games. But to it’s credit, Pastry Paradise is a very good interpretation of this well-worn format and it is almost as sticky sweet looking and mouth-wateringly addictive as Candy Crush.